Summify - The Google+ Guide For Educators Home » Education, Social Media Written by Grace2 August 2011 Unless you've been living under a rock the last month, undoubtedly you've heard of the new social networking site everyone has been raving about: Google+. All this buzz has generated some great articles (my to-read pile just keeps growing!) Here's my Google+ Guide for Educators: So what do you think about Google+? Share this post with your friends and colleagues:
How Google’s Hangouts API could change social video — Online Video News Google+ Building (or Re-Building) your PLN Twitter just became 5 years old and many of us can remember the first time: we heard of twitter… the first time we experienced powerful collaboration on twitter… some of us can even remember our first tweet (not me, though I can imagine it was something like: “I just don’t understand this…” So, for many it feels like a shock when after 5 years, thousands of tweets, hours of growing and grooming our personal learning network we look at Google+ and say, “I just don’t understand this…” or “Struggling to understand how this is going to fit in…” or “It just doesn’t do what Facebook or twitter does… or doesn’t do it as WELL…” Here are some other things that we are struggling with: “I have “spoken” with a person for years on twitter… but I only know them by his or her handle… – We are shocked that someone we really know so well: children, ailments, dreams, hopes, personal challenges… and we don’t even know his or her name. If you are feeling this way, know that you are not alone.
Google Hangouts: Now with Google Docs Integration, Now Even Better for Edu When Google launched its new social network, Google Plus earlier this summer, there was a flurry of stories about the site's potential for education. I confess, I penned a few: But as the summer waned on and the initial buzz over the site died down, it became less clear whether Google Plus would have the momentum going into the school year to appeal to returning teachers and students. Some of the pieces to make the site successful in an academic setting were (and still are) missing: namely integration with Google Apps for Education. The current 18-and-over age policy doesn't help much either. Hangouts: Video Communication and Collaboration But Google announced a number of updates to Google Plus this morning that do point to the great potential the site still could have for teaching and learning. New Features for Hangouts: Broadcasting, Google Docs, Screensharing The new features added today now allow Hangouts via mobile phones, not just via the desktop.
Google and Facebook get personal in battle for social networking rewards | Media | The Observer Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has positioned the company as a money-spinning gateway to the web. Photograph: Mike Kepka/San Francisco Chronicle/Corbis It is one month since the launch of Google+, a belated attempt at a social networking tool that invites users to follow friends' activities in their news feed and share favourite content by marking it "+1". If this sounds familiar, it shows the extent to which Google is playing catchup with Facebook, which is brewing a public offering next year that could value the firm at $100bn and, critically, has positioned itself as the gateway to the web for many of its 750 million users. Much of this pressure is down to the abrasive ambition of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Ben Gomes has worked on every aspect of Google's core search product and is leading exploration into the social navigation of search. With data from so many consumers informing so many Google products, why isn't there more personalisation?
The technology behind Google+ Hangouts — Online Video News Google +: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly [a guest post by Aaron Strout] If you have a pulse, there is a good chance that you've heard the buzz about Google's latest foray into the world of social networking. Their new offering is called Google + (that's pronounced "Google Plus") and at first blush, it seems to have hit the mark. Although the new social network is still in closed beta (invite only), It has already amassed north of 10 million users. As someone that has spent time personally and professionally with social media for six plus years, I've been intrigued with the possibilities that Google + offers. The Good One of the main reasons that Google + is taking off the way it is is because they seem to have gotten the friending/privacy/social graph right via a convention called Circles. The circles come pre-set (although you can customize) so right out of the gate you can start adding people to buckets titled, "Family, Friends, Acquaintances, Following and Work." Lack of business pages also falls into the "bad" category.
Conceptboard Debuts Better Whiteboarding For Google+ Hangouts It’s only been a few days since the launch of the official Google+ Hangouts API (application programming interface), but we’re already starting to see some interesting implementations make their debut. Case in point: online whiteboarding service Conceptboard has introduced a Hangouts extension that puts Google’s own newly integrated Sketchpad to shame. On Wednesday, Google rolled out 9 new Google+ features, including several “extras” for Google+ Hangouts, the social network’s multi-person video chat component. The Google Sketchpad in Hangouts lets users draw, add shapes, text, lines, images and more into a basic blank document which can be saved to Google Docs. Conceptboard’s Hangouts extension, however, offers a much richer implementation of shared whiteboarding. The boards are also available when the Hangout ends on Conceptboard’s website for those who create a free account and via a unique URL.
So what is Google+ all about then? I've seen lots of blog posts and articles and discussions on what G+ is about, and how it is a this killer or that killer. If I had a penny for each of them I'd be quite rich. Does that stop me writing my own? Of course it doesn't. G+ isn't an anything killer. The problem that Google has always had is that its main method of making money - search - is at absolute odds with the end goal. Google has a bunch of different and interesting products - some of which directly provide you with adverts, such as Gmail, and others that don't, but even in that case, they're all part of the Google family. and at the other end of the screen, this: Wherever I go in the Google world I'm now seeing this. G+ is going to be adding new functionality in the coming weeks, and I'm guessing that just about every single major change that they make is going to be to embrace more of their resources. Do libraries/librarians really need to know this stuff? In my opinion, it's absolutely vital that they do.
How are Educators Using Google Plus Hangouts? Digital Tools Phillip Torrone As more people join Google’s new social network, Google+, they’re figuring out how to take advantage of some of the innovative uses for the site. One obvious use for educators is to boost their personal and professional network, particularly as the service offers more granular controls for privacy and sharing. But beyond that, Google Hangouts opens up another realm of possibilities for educators. Google Hangouts allows up to 10 people to video chat with one another. Google’s Hangout technology recognizes who is speaking during a session and that person’s image takes the “big screen” while other participants appear in small tiles below. Video conferencing is nothing new, of course, but the simplicity and the inherent social nature of Hangouts are pretty interesting. Take “Ask an Engineer,” for example. As the name suggests, a “hangout” is an informal place, but that doesn’t mean that teaching and learning won’t happen there, of course. Related
My Google+ Class @ the Library Two days ago I taught the first of two public classes about Google+ at my library. Three days after the private beta opened on June 28th, I scheduled the classes…figuring that by the time the class dates rolled around, I’d have something to say. They became part of our library’s summer Tech Boot Camp class series–20 tech classes from July to September. I didn’t realize that I was the first librarian teaching a Google+ class until people started pointing it out to me and asking for my class outline, learning plan, slides, etc. The class was a one-hour true introduction to the social network, giving people a tour of the profile set-up, privacy options, and many features. So here’s how I did the class. I distributed two printed handouts to the class: a graphic from Patrick Beja describing the differences between Google+, Facebook, and Twitter with the analogy of different kinds of parties.the Google Cheat Sheet created by Simon Laustsen (available in a dozen languages)
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